Dean Powery on ‘Minding the Margins’
In his latest essay in the (Duke) Chronicle, Chapel Dean Luke Powery cites examples from tennis, Duke Chapel’s architecture, book publishing, and the London Underground in which what happens on the margins is key to understanding the full picture of a situation.
“So mind the margins in books, buildings, sports, subways and our wider society,” he says. “It’s the margins, the borders, that tell us what kind of society we really live in. Engage the margins, the socially unacceptable, the periphery and the unpopular.”
“When we mind the social gaps in society, we may even expand our heart’s borders,” he says. “And maybe — just maybe — we’ll recognize that borders and margins aren’t actually dangerous but sites of hope where the dream of beloved community can come true.”